Blight

Mayor Mike Duggan wants former Detroiters to visit the city for a homecoming. The idea is to attract people who wrote off their relationship with the city. The “Detroit Homecoming” is aimed to bring them back for a visit, a little flirtation. Detroit Journalism Cooperative member Michigan Radio has this report.

“I actually do see that bankruptcy has affected my neighborhood because even across the street from me, there’s houses that need to be taken down or even are on the list of being taken down,” says Anthony Keeth, 18. “I’ve heard stories about this great city. The houses used to be full. The neighbors knew each other. You might as well say they were family, but now it’s like, I don’t see where that’s ever happened.

The meeting one was of 12 we plan throughout the city this year, where we’ll answer questions about the bankruptcy process and hear about what it means to city residents. These community meetings will help shape our coverage of the bankruptcy on WDET and at Next Chapter Detroit.

The five youth in this video range from 15 to 18 and are part of the youth development programs developed and coordinated by Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, also located in District 6 in Southwest Detroit.

We asked the teens about their neighborhoods, what they think bankruptcy means and what how they envision the Detroit’s future. Their common themes and issues for them? Abandoned lots, blight and violence. They also say that even though there is litter and blight, not everyone in the neighborhoods treats their property and their city that way.

At the beginning of the year, newly elected Mayor Mike Duggan said to watch what happens in six months. The media partners of the Detroit Journalism Cooperative did just that, examining how the city is functioning while in bankruptcy and how the leadership of Mayor Duggan is impacting services and neighborhoods.

Next Chapter Detroit posted the DJC’s coverage of the mayor’s first six months in office as it was released…and now brings this compilation of all the partners’ work:

Benchmarks from Bridge

After this introductory piece, Bridge magazine published a series of stories looking at how well Mayor Duggan is meeting certain benchmarks, some of which he set for himself, at the beginning of his term. They are:

The Craig Fahle Show

Craig hosted guests for several segments to talk about aspect of the mayor’s work and the Detroit Journalism Cooperative coverage. He was joined by Bridge Magazine’s Nancy Derringer, Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham and WDET/Next Chapter Detroit’s Sandra Svoboda to discuss what the mayor has — and hasn’t — done.

Detroit Public Television

On the television airwaves, DPTV aired two programs with discussions about Mayor Duggan’s first half year. First, the MiWeek team evaluated some of the mayor’s biggest successes and remaining challenges. Then American Black Journal dug into the Blight Removal Task Force, one of Mayor Duggan’s signature efforts.

Graham also reported that one out of every three Detroit households doesn’t have a car. They rely on the bus system. But it’s broken. People at the Rosa Parks Transit Center in downtown Detroit disagree whether it’s gotten any better since Mayor Mike Duggan took over the Detroit Department of Transportation, but officials at the department say they’re working to get more buses on the roads.

Until recently, almost half the streetlights of Detroit were dark. Thousands of new streetlights are replacing the old broken ones. Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham caught up with one of several crews installing streetlights in neighborhoods around Detroit and discovered fewer, less expensive lights to power and maintain means a big drop in cost.

To get a sense of how a candidate plans for success and how they go about implementing such a strategy when elected, WDET’s Travis Wright spoke with former Mayor Dennis Archer. Twenty years ago this week, Archer, a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice was wrapping up his first six months as mayor. When Archer looked back on those crucial first months in 1994, he said it all started when he tapped six University of Michigan professors to help him craft a city improvement plan in 1990.

“Every Neighborhood Has a Future…and It Doesn’t Include Blight,” is the title of the comprehensive plan and set of recommendations to eliminate blight in the city of Detroit. DPTV/American Black Journal Host Stephen Henderson speaks with Glenda Price, co-chair of the Blight Removal Task Force, about how Mayor Mike Duggan plans to accomplish the goal of removing the blighted structures within five years.

“For much of his public life, Mike Duggan has promised results by setting targets – and hitting them,” writes Mike Wilkinson in Bridge Magazine. “But for all of the mayor’s numbers, his office is the one reporting them, making them difficult to verify.” Here’s the full story, as part of the Detroit Journalism Cooperative’s coverage of the mayor’s first six months in office.

Jennifer White, host of All Things Considered, speaks with Michigan State University Economist Eric Scorsone about the challenges facing the city of Detroit and the key systemic issues that the city must address. He emphasizes that although there has been some recovery in the city, the challenges remain of high unemployment rate, the big differences in the Detroit labor market when it comes to earnings of city residents compared to non-residents, upgrading the skill levels of city residents and the creation of jobs.

Mayor Mike Duggan has been in office for six months. When he took office he asked residents to give him that same time period to show improvement in city services and government before they made a decision to leave the city. This week, the Detroit Journalism Cooperative has been taking a look at how and what Duggan has done in his first six months in office. Today on the The Craig Fahle Show, Bridge Magazine’s Nancy Derringer, Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham and WDET/Next Chapter Detroit’s Sandra Svoboda discuss with Craig what the mayor has — and hasn’t — done.

So, how has the vaguely defined category of “livability” fared under the first six months of the Mike Duggan administration? Let’s start with the obvious: The temperature rose to a high of 18 degrees on New Year’s Day, when Duggan took the oath of office. The weather is markedly better in June. That has a way of improving anyone’s outlook. What else? Bridge magazine reports on other benchmarks and the mayor’s progress on them.

Every Detroit mayor for decades has talked about blight. This week Michigan Radio and the Detroit Journalism Cooperative are looking Mayor Mike Duggan’s first six months in office and at how the city is functioning under bankruptcy. One of the biggest problems facing Detroit is the huge number of abandoned houses, buildings, and vacant lots. Here’s a look at what’s changed in how that issues is addressed since Mayor Mike Duggan took office.

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